Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri-Émile-Benoît Matissewas a French artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth31 December 1869
CountryFrance
art civilization development
The arts have a development which comes not only from the individual but also from a whole acquired force, the civilization which precedes us. One cannot do just anything. A talented artist cannot do whatever he pleases. If he only used his gifts, he would not exist. We are not the masters of what we produce. It is imposed on us.
art taken expression
I have always sought to be understood and, while I was taken to task by critics or colleagues, I thought they were right, assuming I had not been clear enough to be understood. This assumption allowed me to work my whole life without hatred and even without bitterness toward criticism, regardless of its source. I counted solely on the clarity of expression of my work to gain my ends. Hatred, rancor, and the spirit of vengeance are useless baggage to the artist. His road is difficult enough for him to cleanse his soul of everything which could make it more so.
expression feelings imitation
The residuum of another's expression can never be related to one's own feeling.
running what-matters hands
What matters most to me? To work with my model until I have it enough in me to be able to improvise, to let my hand run free...
independent feelings individuality
I have simply wished to assert the reasoned and independent feeling of my own individuality within a total knowledge of tradition.
intuition certain permit
The things that are acquired consciously permit us to express ourselves unconsciously with a certain richness.
writing would-be use
The sign is determined at the moment I use it and for the object of which it must form a part. For this reason I cannot determine in advance signs which never change, and which would be like writing: that would paralyze the freedom of my invention.
hatred parasites
Hatred is a parasite that devours all. One doesn't build upon hatred, but upon love.
running good-day fog
Love wants to rise, not to be held down by anything base... He who loves flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back. Derive happiness from yourself, from a good day's work, from the clearing that it makes in the fog that surrounds us.
cezanne painting masters
Cezanne, you see, is a sort of God of painting.
art matter beholder
A work of art must carry in itself its complete significance and impose it upon the beholder even before he can identify the subject-matter...
garden order doors
The model for me is a touchstone, it is a door which I must break open in order to reach the garden in which I am alone and feel good, even the model exists only for what use I can make of it.
faces firsts execution
From the first shock of the contemplation of a face depends the principal sensation which guides me throughout the entire execution of a portrait.
bored mind may
Perhaps I might be satisfied, momentarily, with a work finished at one sitting, but I would soon get bored looking at it; therefore, I prefer to continue working on it so that later I may recognize it as a work of my mind.